The Mystery at the Crystal Palace

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #133

by Carolyn Keene

Investigating the theft of a friend's inheritance, Nancy travels to a state-of-the-art skating arena in Minneapolis and finds suspects in a group of Olympic-class skaters who soon put Nancy on thin ice. Original.

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Childrens, Fiction, Adventure, Classics, Thriller

160 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1996

About the author

Carolyn Keene is a writer pen name that was used by many different people- both men and women- over the years. The company that was the creator of the Nancy Drew series, the Stratemeyer Syndicate, hired a variety of writers. For Nancy Drew, the writers used the pseudonym Carolyn Keene to assure anonymity of the creator.

Edna and Harriet Stratemeyer inherited the company from their father Edward Stratemeyer. Edna contributed 10 plot outlines before passing the reins to her sister Harriet. It was Mildred Benson (aka: Mildred A. Wirt), who breathed such a feisty spirit into Nancy's character. Mildred wrote 23 of the original 30 Nancy Drew Mystery Stories®, including the first three. It was her characterization that helped make Nancy an instant hit. The Stratemeyer Syndicate's devotion to the series over the years under the reins of Harriet Stratemeyer Adams helped to keep the series alive and on store shelves for each succeeding generation of girls and boys. In 1959, Harriet, along with several writers, began a 25-year project to revise the earlier Carolyn Keene novels. The Nancy Drew books were condensed, racial stereotypes were removed, and the language was updated. In a few cases, outdated plots were completely rewritten.

Other writers of Nancy Drew volumes include Harriet herself, she wrote most of the series after Mildred quit writing for the Syndicate and in 1959 began a revision of the first 34 texts. The role of the writer of "Carolyn Keene" passed temporarily to Walter Karig who wrote three novels during the Great Depression. Also contributing to Nancy Drew's prolific existence were Leslie McFarlane, James Duncan Lawrence, Nancy Axelrod, Priscilla Doll, Charles Strong, Alma Sasse, Wilhelmina Rankin, George Waller Jr., and Margaret Scherf.

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another exciting and fun mystery featuring the famed teenage sleuth.

[Palak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nancy Drew books bring back a lot of nostalgia for me. As a kid I read tons of Nancy Drew books and loved each one of them. This book is just like that ton of nostalgia and also a quick read. I would not recommend this book for adults, but for kids, this is a fun way to start getting into the habit of reading.

Book Summary
Nancy Drew has been invited by her friend who just inherited an ice rink to help her find the person trying to shut the place down. It wouldn't be a Nancy Drew book without an endless list of possible suspects.

The ice rink is going to host the figure skating competition and the stakes are high. Nancy and her friends have to find the culprit before they ruin the ice rinks reputation as well as the competition.

[LuAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another new setting, skating arena during a competition, which teaches readers something about ice rinks and figure skating competition, an aspect of these books I always enjoy. It does have the usual sabotage theme though more than the usual number of suspects.

[peter f mathias · Rating 5 out of 5]

ANOTHER TALE OF GREED

Also plenty of lessons in human osychology set in the cold environment of wintertime Mineapolis-St . Paul. An ice arena makes an extraordinary aesthetic contrast. Yes, Nancy.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

50 Books, 50 States -- Minnesota

[Serena · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again.

[Melmo2610 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read for me with the ice skating competition themed mystery. Enjoyed this one!

[Christine Mulligan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Margaret says this book was great. Definitely formulaic and different from the older ones. Realized it was published in 1996

[Dharia Scarab · Rating 3 out of 5]

My love of reading started when i was young, and it gives me immense pleasure to provide books to Spread the Word Nevada, an organization that passes them on to children in the community. They are a terrific organization supporting an important cause. If your local I encourage you to check them out. For those living further a field, look in your own community, their may already be a similar program in place. And if not, you can always help start one.

http://spreadthewordnevada.org/

Myself, I go out on the weekends and
shop thrift store and bulk book lots to rescue books and donate them. Sometimes I'll find a book I remember reading when I was young and will read it again before passing it on.

I don't rate these books using my normal scale, instead I give most of them three stars. This isn't a Criticism of the book, simply my way of rating them as good for children.

[Prami{reader and dreamer} · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars